The Latest: UN calls for aid convoys ahead of Syria talks

U.N. Special Envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura talks to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, Feb. 16, 2017. The U.N. envoy said negotiating a political transition for the war-torn country will be the sole item on the agenda for upcoming talks between the government and opposition in Geneva. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin)
(The Associated Press)

A top U.N. humanitarian aid official is calling for aid convoys to be allowed into besieged and hard-to-reach areas of Syria to demonstrate "goodwill" before government and opposition envoys gather for talks in Geneva next week.

Jan Egeland, of the U.N. Syria envoy's office, lamented that not a single U.N.-arranged land convoy has reached any of more than a dozen besieged towns or villages this year, citing a lack of approvals from authorities.

He said convoys were lining up Thursday in hopes of delivering aid to the opposition-held enclave of al-Waer in Homs, Syria's third-largest city.

The appeal came as the U.N. envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, was meeting with top Russian officials in Moscow in the run-up to the anticipated Feb. 23 start of Syrian peace talks in Geneva.

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2:45 p.m.

Syrian government officials have sat face-to-face with Syrian rebels for the second time in three weeks in Astana, Kazakhstan, as diplomats step up their efforts to reconcile the two sides ahead of U.N.-brokered peace talks in Geneva.

Thursday's meeting is aimed at shoring up a cease-fire before the government meets with the exiled opposition as well as representatives of armed groups in Geneva on Feb. 23, for talks aimed at reaching a broader political settlement.

Rebels and pro-government forces are meanwhile clashing in the Daraa governorate in southern Syria. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says an al-Qaida-linked faction attacked government forces Sunday, shattering an extended spell of calm in the contested region.

There have been repeated violations of the cease-fire since it went into effect on Dec. 30.